Next generation library automation

and its implications for resource sharing

Marshall BreedingDirector for Innovative Technology and ResearchVanderbilt University LibraryNashville, TN USA

• Many efforts are underway to re-conceptualize library automation in ways that  take into consideration the major shifts that have transformed libraries.  The library automation systems in use today emerged during a time when libraries primarily dealt with print collections.  But today we need automation systems that collapse the distinction between print and electronic formats, for example, and help libraries to efficiently manage their diverse collections.  It may also be time to reconsider the automation systems that support resource sharing.  Does the current arrangement of the circulation module from the ILS, interlibrary loan management systems, direct consortial borrowing systems, in conjunction with local, regional and global interlibrary loan brokering systems provide the most efficient means for resource sharing?  In an era where Amazon.com can offer one-click buying, it’s time for libraries to offer more efficient and user-friendly fulfillment systems for their resources.

Abstract

http://www.librarytechnology.org Repository for library automation data Lib-web-cats tracks 39,000 libraries and the automation systems used. ◦Expanding to include more international

scope Announcements and developments made by companies and organizations involved in library automation technologies

Library Technology Guides

Started building database in 1995 Most comprehensive resource for tracking

ILS and other library automation products Many state library agencies do not keep

accurate records of library automation data Problem: how to resolve remaining

“Unknown” libraries. ◦ No Web site, no reliable e-mail contact

Lib-web-cats

Annual Industry report published in Library Journal:

2009: Investing in the Future 2008: Opportunity out of turmoil 2007: An industry redefined 2006: Reshuffling the deck 2005: Gradual evolution 2004: Migration down, innovation up 2003: The competition heats up 2002: Capturing the migrating customer

LJ Automation Marketplace

Recent Major Announcements

Evidence that a new phase of library automation is unfolding

New Discovery Service Consolidated index harvested from many

sources◦ ProQuest, Gale, etc◦ 300,000,000 articles represented◦ Full-text search + Citations

Local catalog data harvested, real-time link to holdings

Other local repositories harvested Others available through metasearch

Summon from Serials Solutions

Existing service in pilot stage for new discovery service

WorldCat.org data + ArticleFirst (30 million articles)

Agreement with EBSCO to load EBSCOhost citation data into WorldCat

Pursuing agreements with additional content providers

WorldCat Local discovery service

No-cost option to FirstSearch subscribers No reclamation to reconcile local ILS with

WorldCat One ILS supported; must be among

supported products Program to expose thousands of libraries to

WorldCat Local as a discovery option

WorldCat Local quick start

Extend WorldCat Local to include◦ Circulation◦ Delivery◦ Acquisitions◦ License Management

Positioned as Web-scale, cloud computing model, cooperative library system

Pilot sites being finalized; general availability in 2010

WorldCat Local automation platform

Separation of discovery layer from library automation tools

Discovery systems ◦ Shift in emphasis from Technology to Content

Open Source Challenging Proprietary ILS Proprietary Automation systems respond with more

openness Development of new library automation framework

◦ OLE – open source project for new automation platform◦ URM – Ex Libris – commercial project for new automation

platform Library Automation in the Cloud

◦ OCLC WorldCat Local library system

Major Upheavals in Library Automation

Open source in the Library automation sphere

Integrated Library Systems◦ Koha, Evergreen, OPALS, NewGenLib

Repositories◦ Dspace, Fedora

Discovery Interfaces◦ Vufind◦ Blacklight◦ SOPAC (Social OPAC)

ILL ◦ Relais (?)

Open Source Library products

Impact of Open Source ILS Non-open source systems still represent the

vast majority of ILS implementations Open source ILS a mainstream choice for new

ILS procurements Some libraries moving from traditionally

licensed products to open source products with commercial support plans

Disruption of ILS industry◦ new pressures on incumbent vendors to deliver more

innovation and to satisfy concerns for openness New competition / More options

More Open Systems Pressure for traditionally licensed products to

become more open APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) let

libraries access and manipulate their data outside of delivered software

A comprehensive set of APIs potentially give libraries more flexibility and control in accessing data and services and in extending functionality than having access to the source code.

Customer access to APIs does not involve as much risk to breaking core system functions, avoids issues of version management and code forking associated with open source models.

Open Source Issues Explosive interest in Open Source driven by

disillusionment with current vendors Seen as a solution to:

◦ Allow libraries to have more flexible systems◦ Lower costs◦ Not be vulnerable to disruptions that come with mergers

and acquisitions Considered as a mainstream option Total cost of ownership

◦ Many claim genuine financial savings in OSS support vs licensed software

New business model based on services rather than software licensing

New Generation of Library Interfaces

Initial products focused on technology◦ AquaBrowser, Endeca, Primo, Encore, VUfind◦ Mostly locally-installed software

Current phase focused on content indexes◦ Summon (Serials Solutions)◦ WorldCat Local (OCLC)◦ EBSCO Discovery Service (EBSCO)◦ All hosted services

Discovery product Trend

Working toward a new generation of library interfaces Redefinition of the “library catalog” Traditional notions of the library catalog are

being questioned Better information delivery tools More powerful search capabilities More elegant presentation

Redefinition of library catalogs More comprehensive information discovery

environments It’s no longer enough to provide a catalog limited

to the traditional library inventory Digital resources cannot be an afterthought Forcing users to use different interfaces

depending on type of content becoming less tenable

Libraries working toward consolidated search environments that give equal footing to digital and print resources

Comprehensive Search Service More like OAI

◦ Open Archives Initiative◦ Consolidated search services based on metadata

and data gathered in advance Problems of scale diminished Problems of cooperation persist Products emerging with vast content

components built-in:◦ Summon, WorldCat Local, EBSCO Discovery

Service

The holy grail of New Gen Library Interfaces A single point of entry into all the content

and services offered by the library Print + Electronic Local + Remote Locally created Content

New approach to search interface Relevancy ranked results

◦ The “good stuff” should be listed first◦ Users tend not to delve deep into a result list◦ Good relevancy requires a sophisticated approach, including

objective matching criteria supplemented by popularity and relatedness factors.

Faceted Browsing◦ Drill-down vs up-front Boolean or “Advanced Search”◦ gives the users clues about the number of hits in each sub topic◦ Ability to explore collections without a priori knowledge

“Did you mean?” and other features to avoid “No results found”

Rich visual information: book jacket images, rating scores, etc.

More like this / related content

Deep search Increasing opportunities to search the full

contents◦ Google Library Print, Google Publisher, Open

Content Alliance, Microsoft Live Book Search, etc.

◦ High-quality metadata will improve search precision

Commercial search providers already offer “search inside the book”

No comprehensive full text search for books quite yet

Not currently available through library search environments

Beyond Discovery Fulfillment oriented Search -> select -> view Delivery/Fulfillment much harder than

discovery Back-end complexity should be as seamless

as possible to the user

Next-generation Library automation

Rethinking library automation

Fundamental assumption: Print + Digital = Hybrid libraries

Traditional ILS model not adequate for hybrid libraries

Libraries currently moving toward surrounding core ILS with additional modules to handle electronic content

New discovery layer interfaces replacing or supplementing ILS OPACS

Working toward a new model of library automation◦ Monolithic legacy architectures replaced by fabric of SOA

applications◦ Comprehensive Resource Management

“It's Time to Break the Mold of the Original ILS” Computers in Libraries Nov/Dec 2007

ILS Reinvention projects OLE Project

◦ Funded by the Research in Information Technology program of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

◦ 1-year project to produce the requirements for a new approach to library automation

◦ Will embrace the service-oriented architecture◦ Business process modeling based on library workflows

unconstrained from existing legacy software◦ Possible follow-on project to build and open source reference

implementation Ex Libris URM

◦ Mentioned publically but not formally announced◦ Working toward new platform that better integrates print and

electronic content Probably will be based on some existing products

Breaking down the modules Traditional ILS

◦ Cataloging◦ Circulation◦ Online Catalog◦ Acquisitions◦ Serials control◦ Reporting

Modern approach: SOA

Comprehensive Resource Management Broad conceptual approach that proposes

a library automation environment that spans all types of content that comprise library collections.

Traditional ILS vendors: Under development but no public announcements

Open Source projects in early phases Projection: 2-3 years until we begin see

library automation systems that follow this approach. 5-7 years for wider adoption.

SOA model for business automation

Underlying data repositories◦Local or Global

Reusable business servicesComposite business applications

OLE ProjectOpen Library Environment:Working toward a next generation library automation framework

SOA = Service Oriented Architecture Design approach

◦ Independent software pieces ◦ Pieces can be interchanged or repurposed more easily◦ Pieces can be combined to create new services or

systems ◦ Business experts and IT experts work together

SOA Process◦ Create high-level map of how the business should work◦ Deconstruct workflows◦ Define reusable services◦ Recombine services into a system that meets our

requirements

What Is SOA

Service Oriented Architecture

http://www.sun.com/products/soa/benefits.jsp

Legacy ILS + e-content modules

FederatedSearch

Circulation Acquisitions

Cataloging Serials

OpenURLLinking

Electronic Resource

MgmtSystem

Staff Interfaces:

End User Interfaces:

Data Stores:

Functionalmodules:

SOA for library workflow processes

Data Stores:

ReusableBusiness Services

CompositeApplications

Granulartasks:

OLE Reference Model

OLE Project: Phase I Planning and Design Phase Develop Vision + Blueprint Work with consultants with expertise in SOA

and BPM Instill community ownership of OLE Recruit partners for Phase II

OLE Team @ Duke

Regional Workshops

Conduct business process modeling (BPM) exercises

Define library workflows which must be supported in OLE

Small group work to develop descriptions of library workflows

Workshop output will shape project design

OLE Project: Phase II Build project Community source reference

implementation Create software based on OLE blueprint

from current project Build partners will have a high level of

investment in OLE and will commit to implementation

Library Driven Not vendor-driven Interest in joining Kuali Existing organization for non-profit status,

legal support, user community

OLE Governance

Recruit partners for Build Phase Write Build Proposal Complete OLE Blueprint components

◦ Scope Document◦ Reference Model◦ Inventory of workflows / processes

Status and Next Steps

Traditional Proprietary Commercial ILS◦ Millennium, Symphony, Polaris

Traditional Open Source ILS◦ Evergreen, Koha

Clean slate automation framework (SOA, enterprise-ready)◦ Ex Libris URM, OLE Project

Cloud-based automation system◦ WorldCat Local (+circ, acq, license management)

Competing Models of Library Automation

ILL and Resource Sharing

In the Context of Next-generation Automation Systems

Layered on top of ILS Millennium ILS

◦ INN-Reach SirsiDynix URSA ALEPH ILL Fretwell-Downing VDX

Development of Resource sharing

Very complex genre of software Connect diverse systems Difficult to address all needed functionality

through standard protocols Challenge to design systems to reduce cost

of fulfilling a request

Current Resource sharing Automation

Libraries under tremendous financial pressure

Most resource sharing programs expanding Make up for diminished collection growth

through increased resource sharing Increased volume of requests Improving percentages of fulfilled requests

◦ Returnables and non-returnables

Trends in ILL and Resource Sharing

Better tools with next-generation automation

Beyond what’s been possible to do accomplish with library protocols◦ Z39.50, NCIP, ISO ILL

OCLC WorldCat◦ Record sharing policy will make a difference

Peer-oriented resource sharing

Impact of Next-gen library automation

Better discovery environments that span print and electronic resources

SOA will allow better tools for resource fulfillment

More options for supporting partnerships, consortia, and regional resource sharing

Cloud computing model◦ OCLC’s private cloud

Next Generation Resource sharing

Fulfillment oriented

Next-generation discovery and automation systems should be oriented toward more unified fulfillment processes

Search > Request > Fulfillment ◦ Similar to worlflows in e-commerce

environments Content silos -> syndicated content

providers Fulfillment = Circulation + ILL + Consortial

borrowing + Request management

Current legacy systems make it too hard Force users and staff to shift in and out of

multiple systems◦ Discovery / OPAC◦ Local Catalog / Union Catalog◦ Link Resolvers◦ Interlibrary Loan request system◦ Circulation◦ Direct consortial borrowing◦ Remote storage request

Break out of Legacy software models

An inherent component of next-generation library automation framework

Opportunities to reassess workflows◦ Print vs Digital

Fewer isolated systems Better interoperability

◦ Less reliant on quirky library-specific standards◦ More use of services that span beyond the library

arena

Next-Generation Resource Sharing

Current automation models make cost higher?

Many libraries lack basic automation infrastructure

Current library standards not well-developed or universally deployed

Need automation framework designed from the ground up for partnerships and resource sharing

Cross-institutional Identity management

Resource sharing obstacles

Amazon.com = federated groups of sellers sharing common infrastructure

Unified from end-user perspective Web Services, cloud computing model Modern user interfaces High level of usability

◦ Discovery, Fulfillment Web 2.0 features

◦ User-contributed ratings and reviews

E-commerce comparison

Digitization of book content will lead to increased discovery by end-users

Some opportunities for electronic delivery Increased commercial competition for

fulfillment of content

Impact of Mass digitization

Many US public libraries still without basic library automation Small libraries most isolated

◦ PC-based automation systems◦ Most in need of participating in larger-scale information environment

Many libraries Not automated / Under automated It’s hard to provide access to resource sharing services when

the local library lacks automation basics Large portions of public libraries in the United States operate with no

automation system, outdated systems, or products not suited for their type of library

Small rural libraries Many public libraries run PC-based systems built for schools because

the cannot afford more full-featured systems Current automation options priced well above what libraries with

limited resources can afford. Cost of consortial participation can also exceed financial thresholds

Serving the underserved

Legacy automation products constrained to deliver efficient resource sharing

Resource sharing a major consideration in the design of most next-generation automation or discovery projects

SOA and enterprise integration will support more efficient resource sharing services

Observations and conclusions

Discussion and Questions